The 2008 Illinois-Wisconsin Cup was completed today under sunny skies and green fairways. The event was a tremendous success, with the Illinois team taking the title by a score of 58 – 50.

"Our job was to treat our guests from Illinois better than they will treat us next year - unfortunately, some of us got carried away, and the result was an Illinois victory,” said Wisconsin team captain Eric Hjortness. “It was a great team loaded with talent, and our top players held their own, but in the end it was their depth of talent that carried the day.

The event was run by the team captains, Larry Vaughan for Illinois and Eric Hjortness for Wisconsin. The scoring system provided two points for each nine holes and two points for the 18 with a total of six points possible per match.

The Saturday best ball event brought cold and rain, but not enough to discourage Todd Mitchell, who shot 66 on his own ball. Illinois took a slim lead of 19-17, led by the teams of Tim Sheppard/Curt Minkel and Todd Mitchell/Mark Esposito, who won five points each. The Wisconsin team was led by Mike Hilton and Stu Grendahl, winning all six points and Eric Hjortness and Matt Behm who won four points.

Sunday brought sunshine and warm weather, and course conditions were outstanding. Leading Illinois to victory were Gerald Maatman, Vance Antoniou and Todd Mitchell from Illinois with six points each, and Larry Vaughan and Mark Esposito won four points each. For Wisconsin Stu Grendahl and Pat Boyle led Wisconsin with six points each and Brian Murphy and Mike Hilton had 4 points each.

The top scorers from each team were Illinois’ Todd Mitchell, who scored 11 points and featured a dazzling 66 on Saturday under extremely cold and wet conditions. Wisconsin was led by Stu Grendahl, 2007 Senior Player of the Year and USGA Senior Amateur Semi-finalist, who scored the maximum 12 points.

The charity portion of the event raised funds for the Evans Scholars houses of the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University. Mark Wilson of the PGA Tour, and event participants Gerald Maatman and Larry Vaughan were major sponsors of the event, and a check was provided to the Evans Scholars house at the University of Wisconsin to be used for house needs.

The Illinois team was warm in its praise of the event and the club. “I have played a lot of events in the Chicago area, and there is no course there equal of the facilities and personal warmth we received this weekend,” said Illinois’ Mark Esposito, who lamented the fact that the greens he will play this week in the state PubLinx will pale in comparison. “It was a fabulous weekend, and please send my thanks to the members of this fantastic club”.